Manor fall short

Warwickshire Premier League
1st XI
Rugby 194 all out
Aston Manor 168 all out
RUGBY WON BY 26 RUNS

Manor’s long unbeaten run came controversially to an end against high flying Rugby as the Perry Barr men slipped to a narrow defeat.

On a wicket that definitely offered assistance to the bowlers Rugby’s total of 194 was built around an excellent partnership between Matthew Ewer (44) and Henry Parker (42) after Manor’s seam bowlers had threatened to rip through their batting order. Manor were sharp in the field in what was generally a good overall performance with the wickets being shared by Danial Chaudhry (3-53), Recordo Gordon (2-22), Imran Khan (2-28), Sahal Malvernkar (1-12) and the economical Shaun Carroll (1-33).

In reply only Danial Chaudhry (47) was able to offer a significant contribution although there were also useful runs scored by Taimur Imran (27) and Imran Khan (16). Manor however were always within sight of a victory, but the match was turned in Rugby’s favour in a moment of some debate!

Manor had already been frustrated by a couple of apparently harsh decisions when with the score on 132-7 Junior Johnson (23) launched a big hit toward the boundary. The catch was taken cleanly, but a large contingent of the Church Road crowd were adamant that the fielder had stepped over the boundary. The Umpires consulted for some considerable time before deciding to uphold the catch. Johnson had looked in good form, but with him gone skipper Jason Furnell was left stranded on 18 not out as Manor fell 26 runs short of their target.